Gaga, Taylor Swift big winners at MTV VMAs

September 12, 2010

Lady Gaga collected the trophies, but Taylor Swift might have been the biggest winner at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Gaga won eight moon man statuettes, including video of the year for "Bad Romance." Over the course of the night she thanked "the gays, for remaking ('Bad Romance') over and over again," and Cher, who presented her with video of the year, for holding her "meat purse" — her final outfit of the night was a get-up that appeared to be made of cuts of meat.

But in a single ballad Swift signaled she was ready to move on from last year's VMA fiasco with Kanye West. Swift issued the musical equivalent of an official pardon, beginning her performance with a video montage of West's interruption and transitioning into lyrics that included "Who you are is not what you did" and "Today is never too late to be brand new."

West acquitted himself well in the night's final performance, delivering an equally serious song that owned up to his gaffe with lines like "Let's have a toast for the scumbags."

Host Chelsea Handler set up a few funny sight gags, starting the show in a mock-Gaga outfit that included a house, with garage, for a hat. Later she entered a hot tub with the "Jersey Shore" cast and exited it sporting a fake pregnant belly.

Surprises, though not as shocking as in years past, included Lindsay Lohan appearing in the taped opening, slapping Handler around and urging her to pull herself together. Rihanna also showed up unexpectedly to duet with two-time winner Eminem on "Love the Way You Lie."

And as Eminem's show-opening number demonstrated, the backdrop inside the Nokia Theater was front and center all night long. The sleek set turned into a fiery blaze for the rapper's montage, and Usher's light show and Florence and the Machine's revolving platform made great use of the circular main stage. Meanwhile house DJ Deadmau5's glowing booth — and glowing mouse mask — kept things colorful from above and made for smooth transitions in and out of commercial breaks.